Charge sheet motivated
Says Mosharraf
Terming the charge sheet against senior party leaders in arson and blasts cases "false and politically motivated", BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday said the government would not be able to suppress the ongoing agitation.
Himself an accused, the former minister asked the government to withdraw the cases and the charge sheet without any delay and claimed that the government only wanted to divert public attention by harassing opposition leaders.
On April 29, police filed arson and blast cases against senior opposition leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, over the recent hartal. Tejgaon police yesterday submitted the charge sheet of the cases to a Dhaka court with a petition to issue arrest warrant against the accused leaders.
Addressing a human chain, the BNP leader also said his party would sit for dialogue only if the government reinstated the caretaker government system. “Structure and function of the caretaker government can be fixed through dialogue”, he added.
“The government has to place caretaker government bill before parliament. It has to amend the constitution, and then it has to initiate dialogue. Otherwise, it will be proved again that the government does not want to hold a neutral election in the future”.
Stressing the necessity of the caretaker government, Mosharraf said, “It's now a national demand that the next election be held under a non-political government. Even the foreigners are now speaking for this system”.
Restore the caretaker government system accepting the suggestion of the foreign guests, he said, referring to the recent remarks of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukharjee.
During their visit on May 5, Hillary laid importance on a free, fair and participatory election through dialogue, while Pranab said during a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia that people's expectation should be fulfilled.
Shwadhinata Forum, a pro-opposition association, organised the human chain before Jatiya Press Club, demanding withdrawal of false cases against BNP leaders and unconditional release of its joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
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